KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Sunday that nine more patients died and 942 new cases emerged overnight when 11,353 tests were conducted.

In a statement issued from CM House, he said that the nine deaths overnight lifted the death toll to 2,747 that constituted 1.8 per cent death rate.

Mr Shah said that 11,353 samples were tested which diagnosed 942 cases that came to 8.3 per cent detection rate which was the highest in the current wave.

He added that so far 1,808,831 tests had been conducted which diagnosed 155,680 cases, of them 92 per cent or 142,707 patients recovered, including 290 overnight.

The CM said that currently 10,226 patients were under treatment, of them 9,721 were in home isolation, six at isolation centres and 499 in different hospitals.

He added that the condition of 379 patients was stated to be critical and 38 of them were shifted to ventilators.

The chief minister said that out of 942 new cases, 624 were detected in Karachi, i.e. 234 in the East district, 196 in South, 65 in Central, 60 in West, 47 in Korangi and 22 in the Malir district.

Mr Shah said that Hyderabad district had 121 cases, Qambar-Shahdadkot 24, Jamshoro 21, Badin 18, Sukkur 14, Shaheed Benazirabad 13, Jacobabad 10, Umerkot nine, Ghotki eight, Larkana and Shikarpur six each, Tando Allahyar and Matiari five each, Tando Mohammad Khan four and Kashmore, Mirpurkhas and Thatta had two cases each. Tharparkar and Sanghar districts had one case each, he added.

The chief minister once again urged people to observe SOPs to contain the spread of this virus.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2020